The Legend of Korra

Yeah, "slaves" isn't the right term. I'm sure the soldier Firebenders pull double-duty as booster engines in a pinch, though.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on May 14th 2022 at 6:16:51 AM

Would have been cool if Zuko inspired a part of the Fire Nation population to side with him

Although as has been discussed the fire nation is so ridiculously loyal

Edit: also I’m pretty sure the fire ships are coal powered. The firebenders stoke the fires but the engines have to burn something. They’re not just shooting fire off the stern of the ship

Edited by Bocaj on May 14th 2022 at 9:19:23 AM

As for Ty Lee, she's different from Mai because her source of angst is entirely different. She grew up with six identical sisters. This caused her to have an identity crisis and so she sought a means to express her individuality and seek attention from others. Hence why a Fire Nation noble family's daughter ended up joining a circus.

It took a while but I have watched Legend of Korra a second time. I enjoyed it more this time.

Edited by Mullon on May 20th 2022 at 7:34:11 AM

I know we talked about this a lot but what do you think of the Korrasami reveal?

Good, made sense with the build-up throughout that season, especially in the first few episodes. Little underwhelming in hindsight, but hey, it was a different time, take what you can get.

Given it came out in 2014, which was a radically different time in terms of how much gay was allowed on tv, I think we can forgive how limited it was in scope.

You don't blame a key for paling in comparison to the treasure chest it unlocks, after all.

Except that’s not the full reason it was limited.

huh? Korrasami's relationship being so limited is exclusively executive meddling & corporate homophobia. they had to fight for what we got.

it wasn't until Korrasami was canonized that we got more visible LGBT representation on TV.

I like how in contrast to tumultuous romance drama of Season 1 and 2, Korra and Asami’s relationship is actually pretty calm and amicable throughout. They’re just nice people who connected as soon they were allowed to rely on each other, and their trust naturally grows into love from that.

Assuming I’m not misremembering an interview they did on it, they were operating under the notion they couldn’t show the relationship and only pushed for it for the finale.

Yeah, because the censors were stopping them. An overt hint at it in the finale was all they could get away with. Obviously, they would have incorporated it into the show more if they could have.

But as we got close to finishing the finale, the thought struck me: How do I know we can’t openly depict that? No one ever explicitly said so. It was just another assumption based on a paradigm that marginalizes non-heterosexual people. If we want to see that paradigm evolve, we need to take a stand against it. And I didn’t want to look back in 20 years and think, “Man, we could have fought harder for that.” Mike and I talked it over and decided it was important to be unambiguous about the intended relationship.

We approached the network and while they were supportive there was a limit to how far we could go with it, as just about every article I read accurately deduced. It was originally written in the script over a year ago that Korra and Asami held hands as they walked into the spirit portal. We went back and forth on it in the storyboards, but later in the retake process I staged a revision where they turned towards each other, clasping both hands in a reverential manner, in a direct reference to Varrick and Zhu Li’s nuptial pose from a few minutes prior. We asked Jeremy Zuckerman to make the music tender and romantic, and he fulfilled the assignment with a sublime score. I think the entire last two-minute sequence with Korra and Asami turned out beautiful, and again, it is a resolution of which I am very proud. I love how their relationship arc took its time, through kindness and caring. If it seems out of the blue to you, I think a second viewing of the last two seasons would show that perhaps you were looking at it only through a hetero lens.

Am I misunderstanding something here?

We approached the network and while they were supportive there was a limit to how far we could go with it, as just about every article I read accurately deduced.

Seems pretty obvious to me. They may not have tried, but their assumption was right that they wouldn't have been able to get away with it. If the culture had been more welcoming, they might have made the attempt earlier and gotten the green light.

Given what we know of cartoon censor boards, I’m not surprised that the crew spent four seasons assuming they wouldn’t be allowed to do more.

They were operating under that assumption because it was correct. If they'd asked at the beginning of work on season 3 if they could have a queer romance, the answer would have been no. They asked if they could do in the final scene of the show, and they were still told they had to leave enough ambiguity for the network to have plausible deniability. No way Nick would have allowed an explicit romance for the entire second half of the show.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Jul 3rd 2022 at 10:50:59 AM

"I like how in contrast to tumultuous romance drama of Season 1 and 2, Korra and Asami’s relationship is actually pretty calm and amicable throughout. They’re just nice people who connected as soon they were allowed to rely on each other, and their trust naturally grows into love from that. "

Probably because Korras was infamous for overusing the whole "relationship equal drama" that happen in every paring.

In fact in a kinda cynical take, I will said being more subtle and end with the hook up was actually better because otherwise Korrasami would become a mess like every other damn paring in the show.

Yes, that ended up working out pretty well. I think it actually worked in favour of the ship if anything.

They do have some drama in the graphic novels set after the show. Not to the same extent as Korra or Asami had with Mako though.

Well, as the saying goes:

I don't recall there being any drama in the comics, at least not the first one. I actually thought they could have gotten away with a little more when I read it.

Yeah, the comics feature pretty much no conflict btwn Korra and Asami. And I agree that the relationship was better served by the writers being unable to use it as a source of cheap drama.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Jul 3rd 2022 at 2:41:21 PM

Yeah, everyone is kinda awkward about it, in the "we kinda never talk about homosexuality but we're basically fine with it?" way, and then the story moved on to other things and everyone is perfectly accepting of them all the time, basically.

Edited by Redmess on Jul 4th 2022 at 10:51:43 AM

x4 Rubefire? That's an odd name for Garnet.

Edited by Snicka on Jul 4th 2022 at 4:14:39 PM

I realized Korra was able to make that new portal because she was using the spiritbending she learned in season 2, which is the first time she uses it successfully.